Everglades Experience

We sit in awkward silence, glancing embarrassingly at each other, looking nervously at the Cuban waitress – is she coming our way? Erica, Jenn and I, on a lunch break from our Everglades road trip (eat your hearts out Thelma and Louise) and are in a Cuban restaurant. Before entering we made a pact that we would attempt to get through lunch speaking only Spanish, as an attempt to practice (or murder) the beautiful language. I’ve been learning it for a few months, Erica has school Spanish. Jenn has even less. Lunch felt longer than it actually was and was a better exercise in controlling mutual embarrassment.

We move on to the nearby HQ of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to meet with Susan, Paul and Scott. SFWMD are working in close partnership with the federal US Army Corps of Engineers in delivering CERP. Susan explains that the mis-management of the Everglades’ valuable natural resources exemplifies well to two key principles: the Law of Unintended Consequences and the Tragedy of the Commons (see links for explanations).  We are shown into their impressive central control room where the people here can determine, at the flick of a switch, who gets water, when and how much. It’s like the deck of the Starship Enterprise with multiple, dominating TV screens apparently showing nothing but weather forecasts, vying for your attention with a bank of computers and flashing lights – I almost expect someone to mutter the immortal words, “Beam me up Scotty”, but, disappointingly, no-one does.

Control room on the Starship SFWMD

On leaving the Starship SFWMD, we’re on the road again, Erica at the wheel, heading west to the sunset along Alligator Alley, crossing the River of Grass, towards Naples. The road, the I-75, is as straight as a yardstick and as wide as a hundred of them and is one of only two east-west routes across the southern Everglades. I lie as flat as I can in the passenger seat as my back is playing up, so I miss the views.

We motor through a range of Everglades habitat types: extensive grass and open water areas, grass with tree islands (tear-shaped islands covered in trees surrounded by the grass) and cypress forests, and through the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades National Park. Towards Naples high fences sprout for miles on either side of the road to guide animals – particularly panthers – to underpasses. Panthers are the apex predators here, and they are under pressure and becoming increasingly confined to smaller patches of land, and are occasionally seen in residential areas (lock up your dogs!). Occasional road signs warn drivers to beware of panthers crossing the road – even in relatively built up areas (puts the Beast of Bodmin into perspective).


Up bright and early the following morning to visit the next impressive conservation effort – the Picayune Strand Restoration Project. It is located on the Tamiami Trail (the second of the big roads across the River of Grass) named after the contraction of the names of the cities (Tampa and Miami) it was built to join. This unique commitment to righting the wrongs of the past will have a major impact on the hydrology and therefore the wildlife of this area. During the 1970s canals and roadways were hacked through thousands of acres of swamp to create luxury holiday homes and residential developments. The company eventually went bust leaving the canals draining the wetland and the roads hindering natural water movement. As the wetland dried out, the vegetation changed and more native palm trees came in (they are not keen on overly damp conditions). The palms enhance the regularity and intensity of fires, which destroys the cypress trees. The animals – wetland birds, alligators, panthers - all decline as their home environs continue spiralling towards uselessness.

Canal

Drying swamp, invading palms

Over the next few years, a team of dedicated, intrepid people are rewinding the swamp clock. We tour the site with Janet, Mike and Lacy – all passionate experts in different aspects of this project, which aims to restore the natural water flow as much as possible. The roads are being removed and the waste material, along with the original canal spoil which lines each canal acting as a linear barrier to water flow, is used to fill the canals. By the end of the project 225 miles of roads, 45 miles of canals and 140 houses will have been erased. Within a couple of years, the scraped roadways are re-vegetate. There is standing water on old roadways in many areas, with an abundance of beautiful, large wading birds; a young bear sauntering across the former road and gives us a nonchalant glance. Three new, huge pumping stations are also being constructed as the area is adjacent to a large residential area and there is still a requirement for flood control.

Road removal; before, during, after and Mike

Driving back east on the Tamiami to Miami, we halt for an airboat ride. I remember these craft from the Roger Moore James Bond film Live and Let Die – the one with the Sheriff JW Pepper (one of my personal film heroes). They are like metallic Oxbridge punts that skim over the water, pushed by an enormous, deafening, rear-mounted hair dryer. The two bits of cotton wool we are given to protect our hearing are next to useless, unless you count them as barriers to insect invasion of the skull. Our driver looks like a young George Michael, but I doubt I would hear his Careless Whisper.
We are in the Miccosukee Indian Reservation – one of the two tribes who call the Everglades home (the other is the Seminole tribe). Their lands are legally sovereign nations covering large expanses of the Everglades, so their involvement has been crucial - and not always easy - in getting CERP to where it is today. We are accompanied by Natalie who works for USACE in tribal liaison. She offers some fascinating insights into the three-way relationship between the tribes, the non-indigenous people and the Everglades.

The hair-dryer craft takes us through some classic Everglades landscape to a tree island, which has a traditional indian construction on it called a chickee. We hang out for 20 minutes or so, photographing the sleeping/ bored/ dead alligator and talking about the indigenous cultural aspects of these wetlands with Natalie.

Sleeping/ bored/ dead alligator

There are thousands of tree islands and almost everyone has been used historically (and many are still) by the indigenous people of the area, as places to live and hide. Today, the tribes receive a good income from running casinos on their land, yet many still regard the Everglades as their patch and run tourism ventures along the Tamiami. Strangely, some of these tree islands have been secretly purloined by mysterious monied people who have built luxury homes, hidden from view.

Tree islands

The following morning is our final stop. We visit the Tamiami Trail Bridging Project. This major road has acts as a serious impediment to north-south water flow along its 264 mile length. The culverts included during the original construction have proven to be woefully inadequate. Chris and Ingrid take us on a tour of the construction site where, currently, a one mile section of the road is being raised to create a low bridge to improve the hydrology and ecological integrity of the ecosystem on either side of the original barrier. The project is well underway and very impressive. It is regarded as a CERP foundation project as it is one of the first major stepping stones of the 68 required to complete CERP. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent over the next few years to bridge other sections of the road, with an ultimate target of 5.5 miles, which should have a transformational effect on the water balance and ecology and hopefully, public awareness of the Everglades. As people drive over the raised sections, they will be able to view unobstructed panoramas of the River of Grass, possibly for the first time.

From left to right: dyke, canal, Tamiami Trail road, bridge under construction

My intense Everglades whistle-stop tour with Erica and Jenn is over. It’s been quite intense, but very enjoyable locked in a car for hours on end and getting to know some lovely people. The complicated itinerary was superbly organised and was thoroughly fascinating and enjoyable. It is with a twinge of sadness that I say goodbye as I move on tomorrow to chase the sun.

Natalie, Jenn, Erica (and yours truly).

All the people I have met, from an impressive range of organisations involved in Everglades restoration projects, are on steep learning curves. Institutional dogma and doctrine has had to be overcome; the evidence of the listening, learning and compromise oozes out of this project like water through the Everglades. It’s inspiring to see and provides a valuable benchmark for other landscape restoration projects in other places.